ID2: User-Centric Design

Partner

Discipline

Industrial Design

Issue

Aging

Semester/Year

Spring 2015

Program

Engage at CCA

Desiring to continue their independence, elders at the Bethany Center Senior Housing collaborated with Industrial Design students to make senior-friendly everyday objects. The students formed a personal relationship with an elder to uncover their specific needs and develop suitable products around those needs.

Project Objective

“ID2: User Centric Design” students worked in collaboration with The Bethany Center to design everyday objects that allowed older adults to stay independent longer. In order to develop their products, ENGAGE students developed one-on-one relationships with elders at the Bethany Center to uncover the unmet needs for the older adult community.

Students envisioned a more desirable experience of an everyday task for their elder and worked closely with them to develop a user-friendly object to facilitate that experience.

Project Outcome(s)

“ID2: User Centric Design” concluded with a public presentation of student designs to Bethany Center residents, and staff. ENGAGE students shared the story behind their product’s human centered design, a finished “look—like” model, and a video that told the story of their product through the context of the lives of older adults.

These day-in-the-life presentations not only shared important details around each students’ design, but also provided a way for the Bethany Center board to learn about the day to day experience of the older adult community.